Disney sees drop in revenue for domestic theme parks

( NewsNation ) — It’s no secret: the happiest place on earth is also one of the most expensive. And now, rising prices are leading some families to skip Disney theme parks altogether.

Disney reported in its third-quarter earnings earlier this week that it struggled when it came to its United States parks and experiences. The company saw a 6% decrease in operating income for domestic parks and experiences, executives said, citing inflation and technology spending among reasons for the drop. While a small decline in consumer demand was expected, the actual decrease in revenue was a surprise, executives said.

“When a family goes to Disney, they have so many components to think about, whether it’s the tickets, how many days they’re going to go, the food, the hotel, some people have airfare,” Jill Fox, a travel adviser for Crakyourbags.com, told NewsNation. Fox added that many times, “families look for more of that one-stop-shop, all-inclusive option” where they can see everything in one place, and not have added expenses.

Disney wasn’t alone in lackluster park performances with Universal Studios also seeing a drop in revenue during its most recent quarter.

Revenue at Universal’s theme parks was down nearly 11% in the second quarter, The Orlando Sentinel reported last month.

“Going back to 2022 and 2023, parks were clearly the early beneficiaries of substantial rebounds in tourism and travel after the pandemic, resulting in a surge in demand that contributed to us reaching record results for both of those years,” Michael Cavanagh, president of Comcast Corp., said, according to the newspaper. “More recently, other travel options, including cruises and international tourism, given the strength of the dollar, have experienced their own surge in demand, which caused visitation rates at our parks to normalize.”

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